So... it's been awhile....

Yes I know it's been a long time.  By long time I mean almost three months.  Geez I hope my blog's popularity hasn't dropped.  Can't afford to lose my Iranian readers... or something.

Here's some quick updates... went to the DMZ, at least an observatory on the South Korean side of it, not inside.  Bought a souvenir turtle (made of stone) there.  Named the souvenir turtle (made of stone), Deemz.  Deemz the souvenir turtle (made of stone) is currently sitting above my desk.

iPod picture so the quality isn't that great.

I've also gone to Namsan Tower which, if you've been to other similar towers, is remarkably similar to that.  One of the beliefs associated with Namsan is that if you and your beau or belle lock a... lock... to the fence there your relationship will be eternal.  Fittingly, you see a lot of couples there.  Ironically, a decent number of locks are combination locks.

Hmm... what else have happened.  New teachers are at the 학원 now.  With two teachers leaving next month we have the full teaching staff for the X amount of time until our contracts end.  Between those departures and the transition of a long-term part-time teacher/part-time NGO worker to full-time latter, I'll become the most senior of the teachers.  That's kinda scary isn't it?


This past weekend there was the Boryeong Mud Festival.  Boryeong is here:

View Larger Map

There will be mud.

It was pretty fun.  The mud attractions covered about an acre of space... not enough for the however many people were there.  Tons of GIs.  Certainly pretty foreigner heavy, but there were still a decent number of Koreans there.  The thing in the background of that picture is a slide.  There was also the beach, which was similarly crowded.


I went there with the hagwon where I've started Korean lessons (Hi CLS, Jiyeon, Amy, Eun Young, Hyo Jung, and the various Noonas).  My class, B, is the second _______________ (fill in the blank: lowest OR highest OR antidisestablishmentarianism) class at CLS.  My hagwon (the one I work at), has 5 teachers learning Korean there.  Go figure.


Interestingly, Firefox's dictionary tells me "antidisestablishmentarianism" is spelled incorrectly.


I've been debating this identity question.  One of my possible pursuits in Korea that I envisioned was a search for my birth parents but I've started the question whether I care about answering it.  Will it change anything about me?  I doubt it.  Will it give me more insight into who I am?  I'm going to say no.  Will I learn more about where I'm from?  Probably.  But do I care about that?  Meh.  Considering how much I've changed in the past 5 years I don't imagine what my birth parents were/are like is relevant to who I am.  Besides, I tend to dwell on the past enough as it is... I don't really care to pointlessly worry about something else about my past.


Speaking of possible pursuits... perhaps graduate school?  Who knows.  There are some programs taught in English here and tuition here seems to be lower than in the US... though cost of living might be an issue.  Research will have to be done.


Anyway, I'll cya in three months.


I'm kidding.  Maybe.

It's alive!

So the blog is once again alive.

Right now it's 2:00am, earlier today (or yesterday I guess) my passport arrived in the mail complete with the desired visa. When I turned to the visa there was this note attached, as seen in the picture to your left. Some might have already seen me comment on this on my Facebook. So apparently I need to be sure I'm not forced into military service by filling out some paperwork when I get there.

In other news, a couple days ago I found out international video calls on Skype were free... and it would seem I was the only one who didn't know. With that in mind, and making what I believe to be a safe assumption that my apartment (3 other guys live there now) will have wifi, I might be able to pull off Skype tours of what will soon to be my abode.

I've been thinking about what purpose this blog will serve. Is there something specific I want it to address in the context of my experience in South Korea? Perhaps my own exploration of my heritage and personal history, examining my attempt(s) to grasp Korean culture as an outsider, my time as a conversational English teacher, or just whatever I happen to feel like writing about. I suspect it will end up more like the latter with healthy doses of me just rambling.

But on the subject of my personal history.... Awhile back, after I originally accepted this position. I asked my father to mail me whatever documents he had on my adoption which he prompted obliged. I waited until tonight to actually read it and discovered, with the help of Google, that the adoption agency and orphanage I was placed in at the ripe old age of 10 days still exists at the same address in Seoul. So that is probably a place I will end up visiting. The documents, while they do not include the names of my biological parents, do name case workers and foster parents. I don't really know whether that's something I want to explore. Not necessarily for any negative reason... just that the same set of documents seem to indicate I was transported to the US in July of 1988 making me about a month and change.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be in DC for the night and on Sunday I'm off to Seoul... and hopefully not military service.